Problem Solver: Fraudulent iPad charge causes iHeadache

The first two charges were insignificant — 68 cents and $1 — apparently small tests to determine whether the credit card would work.

Both charges went through, so the thieves got down to business.

Within hours, they had used Sharon Valentine's Fifth Third Bank MasterCard to charge $249 to a PayPal account, then bought a $901 iPad from Apple.

On Dec. 17, an employee from MasterCard's fraud department called Valentine's house and said the company had noticed unusual charges on her card.

The family verified it had not made the purchases, and MasterCard immediately canceled the card.

By then, however, Fifth Third Bank had approved the purchases.

Valentine said she called Fifth Third to dispute the charges, which were temporarily removed pending an investigation.

Over the next several weeks, the resident of Chicago's Ashburn area tried repeatedly to fax Fifth Third documents to formally dispute the two charges but each time was told the papers were not received, she said. In February, with the help of an employee at her local Fifth Third branch, Valentine was finally able to get all the required documents to the bank's corporate headquarters in Cincinnati.

On April 11, Fifth Third sent Valentine a letter saying it had completed the investigation into the first charge, for $249, and would permanently remove it from her account.

Several days later a second letter arrived, saying the $901 charge was deemed valid, and that Valentine would be charged the full amount. The letter gave her 10 business days to dispute the ruling.

Enclosed was an invoice from Apple that showed the purchaser to be a man she had never heard of, supposedly living at her address. Fifth Third also sent a FedEx receipt that showed the iPad was sent, via overnight delivery, to another man she had never heard of — in Kingwood, Texas.

"There's not a piece of information on there that's proof I made this purchase," Valentine said.

On May 1, Valentine sent the bank another appeal. She also emailedWhat's Your Problem?

"As of today I've called at least five times," she said. "In a nutshell, right now Fifth Third Bank has put the $901 back on my card. I'm totally fighting them tooth and nail."

The Problem Solver called Andrew Hayes, a spokesman for Fifth Third Bank, on May 4.

Fifth Third sent Valentine a letter dated that very day saying her dispute has been reinvestigated and that she would receive a credit of $901 to her account in three days.

Hayes said the Apple receipt showed the iPad was sent to Valentine's home, but the FedEx shipping order shows the device was sent from Apple to a home in Texas. The discrepancy caused some confusion when Fifth Third investigators first examined the case, he said.

"We are not sure how the FedEx 'ship to' was different than Apple's record, but it was," Hayes said in an email. "This caused the delay in approval."

Valentine was happy to have the issue resolved.

"I don't know how they were confused … especially with the documentation they provided," she said.